Mike Dolce Warns Johny Hendricks That “Talent and a Hard Punch” Will Only Take Him so Far

In just over one month’s time, Johny Hendricks will take his first step towards reclaiming the UFC’s welterweight title, when he throws down with Matt Brown on March 14th. Hendricks will be looking to rebound from the split decision loss he suffered versus Robbie Lawler in December, which ended the powerful wrestler’s brief reign as champ.

Following the disappointing bout, Hendricks admitted that he had issues making weight for the fight, and vowed to stay in better shape in between scraps from now on. Conditioning guru, Mike Dolce, has helped Hendricks make weight in the past, and while appearing on “The MMA Hour” recently, he made it clear that the fighter definitely has to change things up (quote via MMA Fighting.com):

“Johny Hendricks has such problems with his weigh-ins, because he balloons up in the offseason,” Dolce said. “He carries too much body fat. It’s extremely unhealthy to dehydrate the muscles, where you can’t dehydrate the body fat. So it comes out of all the vital areas of the body and that causes all these poor performances.”

“You don’t deserve to beat these guys if you’re not living the same lifestyle,” Dolce said. “Talent and a hard punch is only gonna get you so far. You gotta earn the victory long before the fight.”

Dolce went on to add that Hendricks is already in the 190 range, with over a month to go before he faces Brown. Apparently, in the past, Hendricks would still be at around 210 at this stage of a camp….Wow.

So, it will be interesting to see how Hendricks performs at UFC 185. Although Hendricks-Lawler II was a very competitive fight, “Bigg Rigg” definitely faded during the later rounds and didn’t appear to have much pop in his punches as the bout wore on. Having a brutal weight cut will do that to you.

The bout marked the first time Hendricks had fought since March, 2014, when he decisioned Lawler to win the vacant welterweight title. Hendricks underwent bicep surgery after that bout and was sidelined for months, which probably didn’t help in terms of putting on some extra pounds.